


broken bridges, wasted hate

by musicspeakstoo



Series: boy you was battle born [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 01:54:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7133822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicspeakstoo/pseuds/musicspeakstoo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jason, Tim, and a good ol' fashioned sick!fic</p>
            </blockquote>





	broken bridges, wasted hate

**Author's Note:**

> I literally wrote this in like an hour because I wanted to post something more in this verse, but kind of wanted to keep to some semblance of chronological order. Which is funny because the timeline is all over the place in this fic. I'd set it after Cry of the Huntress but before Steph appears, which I know is kind of a fuzzy area, plus I'm not really sure when Knightfall takes place, but pretend this is before that too. Title from the Killers' "Replaceable." I do not have a beta and it's one in the morning, so all likely mistakes are mine.

Jason taps his foot impatiently, waiting. He’s supposed to be doing recon on some mob stuff tonight for Batman, even though Jason thinks he’ll have more luck tomorrow night, which he told him of course, but was ignored, and Batman’s sending Rep- _Tim_ as backup and the kid’s late. 

Jason suspects the kid’s only here because Batman thinks it’s a punishment, he’s heard rumors that Robin teamed up with Huntress and Bruce’ll definitely want to nip that in the bud. Jason doesn’t think that he’s exactly the best choice if that’s the case, but he admires the kid, Huntress doesn’t fuck around and if he managed to keep up with her, there may be some hope for him in Jason’s book after all. If he ever gets here, that is. 

Jason’s just lit up a cigarette when he hears a noise behind him and whirls around, pulling out his gun. The Replacement is standing there, in uniform, and even though he’s half in shadow, Jason can tell something is off. They haven’t seen each other since Jason’s last foray into the Manor, and Tim must’ve kept his word about not telling Dick or Bruce, otherwise B’d _never_ have let him work with Jason. Still, even after that one brief meeting he can tell something’s not up to snuff with Tim. He’s been trained by the best, after all, plus there are some instincts he’s had long before Bruce.

“‘Bout time, Robin, I was beginning to think you were standing me up,” Jason says, lowering his gun.

Tim steps out of the shadow and says, “It’s not like Newark’s right next door or anything,” and Jason now knows what it is.

“You sound like shit, Replacement,” Jason says, because it’s true.

Tim’s stuffed up and there’s a faint whistle and a wheeze when he breathes. And now that he’s closer, Jason can see that the kid’s paler than normal. 

“I’m _fine_ ,” Tim sniffs.

Jason gives him a dubious look, “Uh huh, and I’m two seconds from wearing the scaly panties again.”

Tim snorts and it makes a gross sound, “Are we gonna do stakeout or not?”

Jason makes an impulsive decision, the only kind he can seem to make about the kid and says, “No, we’re not.”

Tim tries to protest, “Hood, this information is important, Batman-,” so Jason talks over him, “Listen, Replacement, I told Batman that we’re gonna have better luck tomorrow night anyway, so we can afford to take a night off.”

He puts his gun back in his holster and takes out his grapple, watching Tim debate with himself out of the corner of his eye. The kid’s shivering faintly, it’s not even that cold out, and Jason wonders if Bruce even knows he’s sick. From what Jason’s heard through the part of the grapevine still willing to speak with him, the kid’s dad is awake and around and Tim’s moved in with him in their fancy new house. He knows that Bruce hadn’t exactly been attentive to the current Robin even when he was living in the Manor so it’s likely Bruce hasn’t actually _seen_ Tim in a while. 

Jason’s kind of bitter about the parent thing, it’s not fair the kid gets his dad back _and_ still be Robin, but the credits must not be rolling on this happy ending yet because here he is, standing in front of Jason, sick as a dog yet fully prepared to sit up all night for a stakeout. One day, Jason’s going to have to figure out whether or not he likes Tim, but for right now he’s gonna force the kid to take the night off whether he wants to or not. If Dick is gonna slack on his mentor skills, someone’s gotta take over, and if that’s got to be Jason, then he’ll do it his own way. Even if that means hog-tying the kid and forcing him to chill out for a bit.

Luckily, it won’t have to come to that because Tim sighs and says, “I suppose we can wait a little bit, just a bit, and then go on the stakeout.”

And Jason’s gonna let him do just that, after he sits down and regains some of the energy he must’ve lost getting here because, car or no car, it’s kind of a trek. 

Jason shoots out a line, and swings, calling back, “Whatever you say, Replacement. Hey, I get how you got around B to patrol while you’re sick, but how’d you fool your old man?”

Tim hesitates, and it’s awhile before Tim answers, long enough that Jason’s begun to think his question got lost in the wind.

“My dad’s dating his physical therapist, Dana, so he’s been kind of busy lately. They’re actually away for the weekend, which is why Batman sent me here.”

Jason almost misses the roof of his safe house, he’s so surprised by that.

“Didn’t he just wake up?” He demands, once Tim’s on the roof with him.

Tim squirms uncomfortably, “I mean, it’s been a few months now, he’s got a life to rebuild.”

 _And that life doesn’t include his son?_ Jason wants ask, but then Tim coughs and it sounds like it hurts, so Jason tables it for the time being. Jason’s original plan to let Tim hang out for a couple hours has been scrapped, and his new plan is to feed Tim some soup, dose him up with cold medicine, and let him crash on the couch. He disables the security system, proudly noting that Tim seems to be impressed by it, and then gives Tim some of his old clothes and shoves him toward the shower.

Naturally, the kid tries to protest this,“But Jason, I-”

Jason holds up a hand, “Save it, Tim. You’re sick, we can get the info tomorrow, and you don’t need to be home for anybody, so there’s no reason you can’t take tonight off.”

It might be a low blow, bringing up Tim’s absentee dad, but it does the trick, Tim takes the clothes and heads into Jason’s bathroom. Jason pulls out some soup from the fridge that he’d made a few days ago and puts it on the stove to heat up. He wonders idly if Dick taught Tim to cook while they were playing Batman and Robin 2.0 when Bruce went off on his magical mystery tour of self-discovery or whatever. Jason is both happy he avoided that mess and a little disappointed he wasn’t asked to help out at any point. 

Tim comes out of the shower and he’s practically drowning in Jason’s clothes, even though it’s stuff he’s outgrown. The pants are baggy and kind of long, Jason bets they’re rolled up a few times at the waist. The sweatshirt is huge on him, the sleeves going over his hands and the extra fabric is flopping around. It’s kind of funny and it makes Jason feel a wash of protectiveness for the kid which, yeah, he really needs to do some self-discovery of his own. Tim’s got enough crappy mentors in and out of his life, Jason doesn’t need to add to the mix just because he can’t tell if he really likes Tim or not. 

“Soup’s almost ready, Timbo,” Jason tells him, “Go have a seat on the couch, there’s a box of tissues on the coffee table, find something to watch while you’re there.”

Tim makes a face at the nickname and Jason knows he’s going to be using it whenever possible from now on. Jason ladles the soup into bowls and grabs two glasses of water, walking into the living room. Tim’s found an original Star Trek episode on TV and Jason shoots him a surprised, pleased smile.

“Didn’t realize you were a Trekkie, Replacement.”

Tim shrugs, trying to hide his smile by taking a spoonful of his soup, “I like them, they’re fun.”

He sounds better, the steam must’ve helped clear his sinuses. He’s still shivering though and Jason will personally kick not only Bruce’s ass, but Tim’s dad’s as well if it turns out Tim went out with a fever. He throws a blanket at Tim and says, “Get comfy,” before getting the cold medicine from the bathroom. 

He forces Tim to take it and drain the whole glass of water. Jason gets up to get both of them another one and then settles on the couch with TIm. He’s halfway through his second bowl of soup when Tim says, “Thanks, Jay,” in a sniffly but sincere voice. 

He’s surrounded by a growing pile of tissues and his nose is bright red. The nickname rolls off his tongue with ease, doing something weird to Jason’s chest. It’s been a long time since anyone has called him anything other than “Jason” or “Red Hood” and he’s surprised by how much he’s missed it.

“Sure, kiddo,” Jason says, because he can’t say _someone other than me should be doing this_.

Truthfully, he’s enjoying Tim here more than he thought he would. One positive interaction does not a friendship make and Jason’s got a lot of anger and resentment built up that doesn’t entirely have anything to do with Tim, but also doesn’t mean he can’t get the brunt of it. He turns to tell Tim that he’d better hope he doesn’t get Jason sick, but then stops. 

Tim’s sacked out on the other end of the couch, cocooned in a blanket and curled up in a ball. Jason gets a lump in his throat as he remembers the time when _he_ got sick and Bruce stayed in with him to watch a movie and Jason fell asleep on him. The surge of protectiveness returns as he carefully reaches over and readjusts his blanket.

 _He’s not disposable, you know? You’re supposed to take care of him_ , Jason thinks as he gets up and shuts off the lights and TV, and he’s not sure if he’s directing that at Bruce or Jack Drake.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm foxmulderscully on tumblr if anyone wants to come say hi.


End file.
